TJic Country Gcntlcviaiis MagarAiic 



time, but especially beginners, find that ser- 

 vants and labourers will not obey them so 

 well as a i>erson nearer their own level in life. 

 Gentlemen never have the work done that 

 common fanners have ; but a bailiff will pro- 

 cure as much for his master as any fanner has, 

 provided tlie master encourages this head ser- 

 vant, and makes it his interest to use him 

 well. For these reasons, as well as others 

 that might be urged, the expediency of em- 

 ploying bailiffs is asserted. 



Sir Roger's decision, "much maybe said on 

 both sides," is here very applicable, for neither 

 opinion should be embraced in absolute exclu- 

 sion of the other. It may, therefore, be of 

 some use to point out, in the supposed conduct 

 of the gentleman just going to farming, such a 

 course of management as may obviate, if not 

 remove, the objections of both parties. 



The most difiicult point is the size of the 

 fann, as nothing but a considerable business 

 will pay the expense of a bailiff; and there 

 can be no doubt of the imprudence of begin- 

 ning with a large farm, dependent wholely 

 on the honesty and skill of another man. I 

 think, for this reason, the gentleman should 

 begin with a small farm, not under the expec- 

 tation or the notion of making a shilling of 

 profit, but for the more important advantage of 

 gaining experience enougli to keep a bailiff 

 when he enters on a larger business. I am 

 sensible there are objections to this conduct; 

 but none in difficult points can be invented 

 that is free from them — the only choice is 

 that which has the fewest. 



In a small farm he will not find the trouble 

 of gaining a pretty tolerable stock of know- 

 ledge and exj^erience so great a drudgery as 

 some may think. He will learn the prices of 

 the country, of all sorts, and discover the 

 proportions between price and labour in such 

 a manner that he will not be much to seek, 

 in any country — the common management of 

 arable lands. He will soon gain the applica- 

 tion of manures, as known by country 

 farmers ; and such a knowledge of cattle as 

 will, at least, prevent his falhng into gross 

 errors. In his conversation with labourers 



and farmers he should make inquiries after 

 different methods of farming, and make 

 memorandums of such replies as he thinks 

 most sensible. But a greater source than all 

 this is observation — let him look over his 

 hedges, and see what his neighbours do with 

 their land — let him walk about the country., 

 for the same purpose, and compare the prac- 

 tice which he sees with the opinions which 

 he hears. It would be for his interest to be 

 acquainted with one or two decent sensible 

 farmers, that will not take a pleasure in mis- 

 leading him. Such are everywhere to be 

 found ; it only wants a little penetration to 

 discover the proper people to apply to. Let 

 him invite them to dinner, and now and then 

 give them a bottle of generous wine, and 

 chat freely about country business. He will 

 find it no difficult matter to learn from them 

 the chief of what they know. 



Now, I do not offer these means as an 

 instruction how to make himself a complete 

 master of agriculture, or to make at once 

 a fortune by it ; all I pretend he will gain by 

 it, is such a ground-work as will afterwards 

 allow him to erect the wished-for building on. 

 He will, in this manner, gain experience 

 sufficient to venture, I should apprehend, in 

 three years, on a large farm, with the assis- 

 tance of a bailiff. There is no reason for a 

 man of small fortune, or rather of not a large 

 one, repining at his time sacrificed merely to 

 experience in common husbandry. 



One of the chief objections to a bailiff" is 

 the ignorance of the master. By such an 

 apprenticeship as I propose, he will know 

 enough of the business to direct the bailiff 

 what he would have done, without fearing to 

 expose himself by absurd orders (I am here 

 speaking of the common practices), and with- 

 out any necessity for its being conducted 

 without his own assistance. He will also 

 know enough of prices to direct -the bailiff" 

 how far he should bid for any commodity at 

 a fair or a market, and the price he will 

 allow him to sell at — all which are powerful 

 means of controlling even the allowed, 

 knavery of such a servant. 



; conclusion in our next Number. 



